Bruce S. Pavitt (born March 7, 1959) is the co-founder of independent record label

Sub Pop Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the gru ...

. He attended

Evergreen State College The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a ...

where he hosted a show on Evergreen's KAOS radio station before founding Sub Pop.

Career

After briefly attending Blackburn College in

Carlinville, Illinois Carlinville is a city in and the county seat of Macoupin County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,710. It is the home of Blackburn College, a small college affiliated with the Presbyterian church. The city ...

and subsequently transferring to

The Evergreen State College The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a ...

in Washington State, Pavitt started a

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

entitled ''Subterranean Pop'' in

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington. It had a population of 55,605 at the 2020 census, making it the state of Washington's 23rd-most populous city. Olympia is the county seat of Thurston County, and the central city ...

in 1980, about American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

rock bands. Pavitt wrote:

“We need diverse, regionalized, localized approaches to all forms of art, music, and politics…the most intense music, the most original ideas are coming out of scenes you don’t even know exist. Tomorrow’s pop is being realized today on small decentralized record labels that are interested in taking risks, not making money.”—Subterranean Pop #1, 1980

Three cassette compilations were released through the fanzine. In 1983, Pavitt moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and started a record store, Fallout, as well as writing a Sub Pop column for '' The Rocket'', and hosting an independent-label specialty show on KCMU. 1986 saw the release of Sub Pop's (the "-terranean" was dropped earlier from the name) first LP: the '' Sub Pop 100''. Green River's '' Dry As a Bone'' EP followed in 1987. Bruce Pavitt has since written two books: Sub Pop USA and Experiencing Nirvana.

References

External links

''The Seattle Tattler'' #2. "Counting the Cobainbuck$". ''Belltown Messenger'', February 2005.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pavitt, Bruce Living people People from Chicago People from Olympia, Washington Sub Pop 1959 births